Blaubirer - Den liebsten Buhlen - 1862

LOVE, RISK, AND DESTINY IN THE LOST INCUNABLE: THE GAME AS A LOVING ORACLE
Refined 19th-century facsimile (Augsburg, Butsch, 1862) of the extremely rare Würfelbuch für Liebende, originally printed by Johann Blaubirer around 1482. It is a “dice book” of love in German verse, belonging to the Losbücher genre, texts that lie at the crossroads between game, divination, and courtly poetry.
Large illuminated initial in gold and color applied to the first line.
From the original incunable, only a single copy survives (Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana), a circumstance that makes this facsimile a precious testament to a late medieval playful culture in which fortune, desire, and the written word intertwine.
MARKET VALUE
19th-century facsimile of the original incunable (of which only one copy is known). Market value sits in an accessible collectible range. High-quality 19th-century facsimiles, especially well-preserved, with decorative binding and complete apparatus, typically range from €1,000 to €1,200. Interest is primarily bibliographic, iconographic, and historical-cultural.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
16 leaves with six-line German verses each, printed on cream laid paper; each piece is accompanied by woodcuts depicting three dice. Large illuminated initial in gold and color applied to the first line. Wide margins. Modern blank sheets inserted at the beginning and end; marbled flyleaves; ex libris engraved of Anton Heinrich Röbel on the front pastedown. 20th-century full-leather binding in antique style, blind-decorated with a gilt peripheral border on the covers. Very well-preserved copy. In old books with a long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
[Würfelbuch für Liebende]. Den liebsten Buhlen, den du hast erkoren.
Johann Blaubirer, circa 1482.
Facsimile edition: Augsburg, Butsch, 1862.
Printer of the original edition: Johann Blaubirer (active 1478–1486).

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Losbücher of the 15th century were book-games that combined dice throwing and consultation of responsive verses, offering amorous predictions or symbolic advice. Würfelbuch für Liebende belongs to this ludic-divinatory tradition, where chance becomes a narrative instrument for one’s sentimental destiny. The work attests to a less-known aspect of incunable-print culture: not only religious or legal texts, but also ephemeral, popular, and performative literature. The fact that only one copy of the original survives enhances the documentary importance of this 19th-century facsimile, produced during a Romantic-era revival of medieval studies.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The original edition, printed in Augsburg around 1482 by Johann Blaubirer, is cataloged in Goff (Incunabula in American Libraries, W-71) and in the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (M51819). The 1862 facsimile reprint falls within the 19th-century movement to reproduce incunabula rarities for scholars and collectors, set against a backdrop of growing philological and historical interest in the early age of printing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries, W-71 (for the original edition).
Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, M51819.
Helles, Standke & Reich, Gedruckte Deutsche Losbücher des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, vol. I (2021), pp. 1–29.
Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana (only known copy of the incunable).